whales
to 20,000 voyages, and a value of sixty-million pounds sterling in
baleen and oil. It is calculated that in the thousand years during
which man has hunted the great whales not less than a million
individuals have been captured. Man's skill and capacity have now
become such that he will soon have cleared the ocean of these
wonderful creatures, since, like the bison, the whales cannot persist
when harried and interfered with beyond a certain limited degree.

It appears that the curious musk ox, which now lives on the fringe of
the Arctic circle, and in the glacial period existed in the Thames
Valley, is doomed. There (as in similar instances in other lands), the
comparatively harmless savage race of men (in this case the Eskimo),
whose weapons did not enable them seriously to threaten the existence
of the animals around them, have now obtained efficient firearms. The
musk ox is consequently now between two lines of fire--that of the
white hunter on the south, and of the Eskimo on the north.

From regions far remote from the Arctic complaints come of an even
more reckless destruction of helpless animals. Perhaps our legislators
may feel some personal concern in this case, since it is neither more
nor less than the approaching extinction of the turtle, the true green
turtle of City fame, to eat which at the invitation of City
dignitaries is one of the few duties of a legislator. Both the green
turtles and the tortoise-shell turtles are being destroyed
indiscriminately on the coast of Florida and in many West Indian
Islands by brutal, careless, "white" beach-combers and idlers. By
proper care of the eggs and young the turtles could easily be
increased enormously in number, and a regulated capture of them be
made to yield a legitimate profit. But neither the United States
Government nor our own take any steps to restrain promiscuous
slaughter of the turtles which come to the shore in order to lay their
eggs. Soon the City Fathers will have to do without the "green fat"
and their wives without tortoise-shell combs. It will serve them
right. Such destitution in these--and, be it noted, in many other
matters--will deservedly fall upon those who ignorantly, wilfully, and
contentedly neglect to take steps to understand and to control the
withering blight created by modern man wherever he sets his foot.

CHAPTER XXVI

MORE ABOUT WHALES

The possibility of protecting whales from wanton slaughter by man is,
no